The Bar Man - Alcohol in Aberdeen
The weather was nice and we had a few days free in the diary, so it’s time for a break.
Where to go? The Great British Beer Festival at Olympia had its attractions, not least the chance to be in at the launch of the new passion fruit sour beer pickled egg, a collaboration between the Howling Hop brewery and Purely Pickled Eggs.
I guess after that you would need a glass of the Champion Beer of Britain for 2018, which turned out to be Broken Dream Breakfast Stout from the Siren brewery in Finchampstead, Berkshire.
Instead we decided on somewhere that we didn’t really know and which could be reached by train, and nine hours after catching the delayed train from Lynn, we fetched up in Aberdeen, the Granite City.
They call Edinburgh the Athens of the North, but with the influence of architect Archibald Simpson, who is forever immortalised by the name of the Wetherspoon’s pub converted from a bank he designed, perhaps it should be Aberdeen. Columns and pediments seem to be everywhere, only occasionally interrupted by the neo-gothic of buildings like the huge Marischal College.
In another nod to classic rock, every other person we saw seemed to be wearing an Iron Maiden branded shirt, probably because Bruce and the boys had performed in the city the night before we arrived. One of the local pubs had the bright idea to stock Trooper cask beer, inspired by the band and brewed by Robinsons. Unfortunately for us, it had proved too popular and with no alternative, we moved on.
Aberdeen is not particularly a beer town, but there are a number of Belhaven pubs which serve a selection of cask beers and good value food. Belhaven is pretty much unknown in this part of the world, but is a subsidiary of Greene King.
Unlike the other breweries they have taken over, Belhaven continues to brew. They are based in the town of Dunbar, about 20 miles down the coast from Edinburgh.
They produce some pretty tasty ales, and seem to have a special for each of their pubs, though sadly, none of them are named in honour of Oliver Cromwell who led his army to one of his greatest victories at Dunbar in 1650.
William Wallace is more of a hero up there and there was a giant statue of him almost outside our hotel. The inscription on the plinth tells his story, with I would suggest, a slightly Scottish bias. As I outlined some possible corrections to the bar wife, I received a very painful sting from a wasp, so I guess even now, you meddle with Wallace at your peril as his spirit lives on.
What else does the city have to offer? One of the country’s best winter gardens, with massive glasshouses containing plants from various climatic regions was a real discovery, while the free maritime museum is as good as any I have visited.
One of the displays concerns the Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover who was instrumental in opening up trade with Japan, and became known as the Scottish Shogun.
Among his enterprises was the establishment of the Kirin brewery, now a multinational giant, and some claim that the logo of the mythical creature which gives the brewery its name contains a representation of Glover’s moustache.
Would I return to Aberdeen? The art gallery is undergoing refurbishment, and we couldn’t get tickets for Aberdeen v Rangers, having to make do with Montrose v Arbroath, the first of 24 Angus derbies this season, so we have unfinished business. I can’t wait.